Lakeview leases expire today

Most of the privately owned cabins on land leased from the Queenstown Lakes District Council at Lakeview have already been transferred to the Council’s ownership or removed ahead of the expiry of their leases today. The owners were given the choice of transferring their cabin to the Council’s ownership by today or removing it at their own expense. All the tenants and resident owners of the privately owned cabins who want to stay in the precinct are able to do so in the meantime, even if the cabin they have previously lived in is being removed. Chief Executive Adam Feeley said that the only change for most of the occupants was that the Council would become their landlord, and they would be paying market rental under a standard periodic tenancy agreement. Superannuitants have been offered a lower rent and a place on the waiting list for one of the Council’s pensioner units. "We have been able to accommodate all the tenants previously renting private cabins," Mr Feeley said. "No-one has been forced to leave Lakeview." There were originally 77 privately owned cabins on the Council’s land and as of this morning, 48 have been transferred to the Council with another nine awaiting the completion of paperwork. Of the rest, 17 are being removed by their owners with a deadline of 30 October for the removal to be completed. Two of those cabins have already been taken away. Two more appear to have been abandoned by their owners, who can’t be traced. The Council will commence the legal process to remove those cabins. One other cabin is on land held under a perpetual lease and not included in the transfer-or-remove arrangements that the Council has made with the other cabin owners. The Council is planning a substantial redevelopment of the prime Lakeview land above central Queenstown. As well as being the site of the proposed Queenstown Convention Centre, the land will contain a mix of public and commercial space, housing and visitor accommodation. Ngai Tahu has already signalled its intention to develop hot pools on the site and a market square is an integral part of the concept. Mr Feeley said that once the plans for the site had been confirmed and the timing of development finalised, the remaining cabins would be removed from Lakeview to enable the project to proceed.